JW Lees has produced the first brew of its notoriously stron

The reddish brown beer has an abv of 7.5% and a strong malt and fruit aroma. It is generally only available on draught in a limited number of outlets around the Manchester-based brewery's heartland. JW Lees' head brewer Giles Dennis, left, and brew house manager Paul Wood were assisted in making Moonraker by Penny Perry, communications manager at the Unique Pub Company. She bid for the chance to be a brewer for the day during a Unique charity auction in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief (see MA Snifter page from 6 February). She commented: "The whole place runs like clockwork. The guys are passionate about their work and went out of their way to make my day a great experience." * * * * * Bushy's is brewing a special bottled beer that will solely be available in Gibraltar. The Manx brewer's Gibraltar Barbary Beer has an abv of 4.4% and complies fully with the island's Beer Purity Law of 1874. Brewery boss Martin Brunnschwieler is marketing the ale with the campaign: "Not for men of Straw and definitely not for sharing" ­ a tongue-in-cheek reference to foreign secretary Jack Straw's dialogue with the Spanish Government over the future of the British colony. * * * * * Hartlepool's Camerons Brewery has unleashed a new identity for Nimmo's XXXX ­ its 4.4% abv light, golden-coloured ale. Nimmo's has been brewed in the north east for generations and is available both as a cask-conditioned ale and in 500ml non-returnable bottles. It is often seen as a guest ale on national and regional brewers' cask ale programmes. Camerons' marketing director Mike Berriman commented: "We are confident that the new image for Nimmo's XXXX, which identifies its northern roots, will help extend its sales and distribution in the on-trade and take-home markets." * * * * * Tetley's has just launched a £750,000 press and poster advertising campaign to coincide with the kick off of the Six Nations Championship and the Rugby Super League season. The campaign is part of the brand's Year of Sport programme, that aims to help licensees and retailers capitalise on key sporting events throughout 2003. The campaign has two themes, featuring rugby union's Jonny Wilkinson and rugby league's Andy Farrell. Tetley's is said to be the brand most people associate with rugby, via its sponsorship of the England and Scotland rugby union teams together with Super League rugby. * * * * * Swindon-based Arkell's Brewery has conjured up a special beer to celebrate chairman Peter Arkell's 80th birthday. Over the last few months, and under a cloak of great secrecy, the brewery produced Moonlight as a tribute to his wartime experiences. It is called Moonlight to mark his low-level night-time missions piloting Lysander aircraft over France in 1943, dropping off and picking up agents behind enemy lines. His flying career was brought to an abrupt end following a serious air crash behind Japanese lines in Burma in 1945, which hospitalised him for a year. He became Arkell's chairman in 1971. The 5% abv beer was devised by head brewer Don Bracher, who used a special blend of malts to give the beer a moonlight colour. The bottled beer is available in all Arkell's pubs. * * * * * Stephen Goodyear, sales and marketing director of Young's Brewery, has taken over from William Lees-Jones as PR Chairman for the Independent Family Brewers of Britain (IFBB). The role entails working alongside the 10 members of the Committee to ensure that the objectives of the IFBB are met. These objectives include promoting cask-conditioned ale to the trade and the public, as well as other issues such as licensing and employment. Goodyear started his career with Courage in 1974 and joined Young's seven years ago. He will have a key role in organising IFBB's annual Real Beer Week, which is held in September. * * * * * Merseyside brewer Robert Cain has produced a special beer to mark Liverpool's bid to become European City of Culture in 2008. The new ale, simply called 2008, was launched this week with the help of Camra's official "goddess of beer", Ninkasi. Cains joint managing director, Sudarghara Dusanj, left, said the 5% abv beer was designed as a tipple to topple Liverpool's UK rivals for it to become City of Culture. City council leader Mike Storey, right, raised a glass to 2008's success.